What is Meditation?

by Papaji

Here and now, if we do not make any effort, if we
do not activate a single thought, if we do not even allow the thought
‘I’, if we do not hold to the concept of time, if we do not postpone
anything to the next moment, to the next breath, this is going to
reveal itself

A long time ago, Siddhartha went from place to place going through
different processes, meeting different teachers who were performing
different penances. Some were meditating, some were performing rituals,
some were even hanging from the trees, some were standing with their
hands always up, never sitting at all.

When Siddhartha sat down under the bodhi tree he got up as Buddha.
Ananda was the first man to ask the master what he had got there.
The reply was, “Nothing.” We do not know how to describe what he
found under the bodhi tree. He spent the rest of his life, from
30 to 80, trying to describe what he had got and still he could
not. This is something that still remains un-described, un-conceived.

When you know that you are meditating it is not meditation. The
thought that, "I am meditating and this is the process." is not
meditation. Sitting in a particular posture is not meditation. Concentrating
on different centers in the sushpana channel of the spine is not
meditation. Chanting a formula is not meditation. Having a vision
or picture of a particular deity is not meditation. So what is meditation?

The important question is if the meditation is immaculate, untouched,
without cause and without effect? To know what meditation is, you
have to find who the meditator is: "Who is the meditator?" When
you ask this everything will drop. The process will to drop because
you are inquiring into the nature of the meditator, the one who
is busy with this process of sadhana, who is executing the practice
of meditation - the same one who executes anything that is possible
through the mind. If you ask who the meditator is I don't think
you will easily get the answer because everything will drop right
here. You have to find out who the meditator is, who is meditating,
and what is the purpose of meditation.

You forgot the purpose of meditation. We wanted freedom from
this world process of suffering and to end this we meditate with
the help of the mind. The mind itself is suffering, is samsara;
so if we take the help of mind we are not going to arrive anywhere.
Ask who the meditator is and you will reply to yourself: "I meditate.
I am the meditator."

What is this ‘I’ who becomes the meditator? How is it different
from what it is searching for? You will have to discover what has
been concealed when you give rise to this meditator - what is buried
underneath. What is that foundation out of which this meditator
rises and performs different sadhanas and practices? Return back
home to find the source of the meditator - the source of ‘I’. There
is no difference between the meditator, the ‘I’, the mind, and the
ego. Whenever we meditate it is the ego that takes the role of the
meditator, so meditation has not brought any result so far.

Someone arose from under the bodhi tree. That cannot be attributed
to any practice of meditation. When he was asked what he had attained
he was quite honest and said, "Nothing." He had not attained anything
during the process of long sittings of meditation. Something had
revealed itself to itself. That revelation, that happening, is not
in your hands. If you carry a gun on your shoulder and you are looking
for a target it will take you elsewhere. The gun is effort, the
gun is ego. If you drop the gun and don't possess anything it is
going to reveal itself, by itself, to itself within itself. That
which has been concealed since millions of years will have to reveal
itself.

We are waiting, thinking that we have to do something about it.
It is this doer-ship which is concealing the truth, existence, consciousness,
and bliss. Otherwise this has always been with you, is with you
now, and will always be with you. You can never separate yourself
from it at any time. You cannot breathe without it, you cannot live
without it. It was only a concept that the wave was different from
the ocean, that the ring was different from the gold, or that the
vessel is different from the clay. Because we do not see the substratum
we find a difference.

Here and now, if we do not make any effort, if we do not activate
a single thought, if we do not even allow the thought ‘I’, if we
do not hold to the concept of time, if we do not postpone anything
to the next moment, to the next breath, this is going to reveal
itself. Here and now means out of time all together. This has nothing
to do with any meditation or any process. We have tried endlessly
through numberless incarnations and we have not been able to complete
it. This time let us decide to return home. We have been different
waves, different name and form; but if name and form does not arise
where is the wave? We are the ocean, existence, consciousness and
bliss. We have come here to realize this without any effort. We
have tried every kind of effort, we have been advised in our different
backgrounds to “do this” or “do that.” Now, here, for the first
time you do not have to do anything. Simply sit quiet for one moment
in time. That is all that is required to realize existence, consciousness
and bliss.

How could existence be absent? Is it possible for you ever to
deny that you exist or even that you are conscious of your existence?
You can only deny that you are happy because no one is happy, from
the king down to the worker. We have been missing bliss because
we have been searching for it in things which are not permanent,
which are not eternal, which appear and disappear.

Only bliss is missing. Existence can be found in rocks, in animals,
in trees. We are human beings, a super species among 8.4 million
species. This is the supreme form, the most blessed form, in which
it is possible to know that we are That. Do not postpone the right
use of a human form until the next life or the next day. Tomorrow
will never come. This is not difficult, not located miles away from
you. It is here, now, nearer than your own breath. It is behind
the retina. It is that which shines through the eyes. It is that
which even sunshine cannot reach, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor
fire. You are That.

Source: Reprinted with the kind permission of
the Avadhuta Foundation. The Avadhuta Foundation was established
in 1993 to further the teachings of Sri H.W.L. Poonja, affectionately
referred to as Papaji, and to make available the archives of Papaji’s
talks in India. You may
visit their website from here.

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